


Not Mine to Love

by thenakednymph



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, no editing we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 14:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16683211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenakednymph/pseuds/thenakednymph
Summary: Keith comes back from a mission with the Blade sporting a violent bruise and Lance forgets how to breathe.





	Not Mine to Love

**Author's Note:**

> I should really just like, edit these but I don't have spoons so fuck it, here you go.

Keith pushes back his hood, the mask dissipating and begins to give them a report on his mission. Lance feels the breath punch out of him. 

As the mask vanishes it reveals the deep purple bruises across Keith's face and Lance can't breathe. He spends the rest of the debrief not looking at Keith. His ears are ringing and he has to turn and lean over one of the consoles, hoping he manages to play it off as a casual study of the maps and not how weak-kneed he is. 

He closes his eyes, struggling to draw breath and he barely hears it when Shiro and Allura dismiss them all. The sound of everyone's departing footsteps echo in his ears and he blinks away the tears in his eyes with a jagged gasp. His limbs feel like rubber.

“Lance?”

Lance's heart skips as he realizes Keith has stayed behind. He swallows thickly, trying to get his breathing under control and stares down at the screen he's leaning against without really seeing it.

“Yeah?” It comes out a dry rasp and he clears his throat. “What's up?” He still can't look at Keith. 

He hears him take a few steps closer and tries not to flinch. 

“Are you alright?”

He nods rapidly, like it's a nervous tick he can't seem to top. “Yup, I'm fine. Why?” His fingers flex around the edge of the console.

“Because you won't look at me.” His voice is so soft and Lance feels that painful ache in his chest again. He knows he's losing it. 

“I can't,” he whispers and it's high and thin, tight past the hand on his throat. He hears Keith step closer again. 

“What did I do?”

The painful note in his voice has Lance yanking his head up before he can think better of it. And those bruises are still there and they still make Lance sick to his stomach. He reaches for Keith reflexively, yanking his hand back before he can touch. 

He has to drop his head again. “Nothing. You didn't do anything.” 

“Then why…?” 

Lance's jaw flexes and he shifts his weight. “Because I can't look at you right now without wanting to kiss you or cry and punch something or find whoever it was who did that to you and beat them to death.” He gestures angrily, panting and when he looks at Keith he looks stunned. 

“Because it isn't my place to feel like this about you, because you aren't mine.” He rubs his fingers over his eyes, drawing a jagged breath. He drops his hand. “So I don't know what to do. I just know that seeing you hurt is killing me.”

He turns back to the console, leaning against it and Keith doesn't say anything. Lance feels the weight of his hand come to rest against his on the console. It takes him a moment to gather the willpower to look Keith in the eye. 

“I think I'm going to kiss you,” Keith whispers and he's leaning into Lance's space, the weight of his hand warm against Lance's and in spite of how badly he wants it he finds himself leaning away as Keith's breath ghosts over his lips.

“Don't,” he rasps and it's the hardest thing he's ever had to say. Keith pulls back and he looks so vulnerable and scared that Lance's heart is breaking all over again. “Not unless you mean it because I can't-”

Keith's hand squeezes over Lance's. “I mean it.”

Lance's breath shudders out of him and then he let's Keith kiss him. It's chaste and scared and soft and lasts only a moment but Lance pulls away feeling like it's permission to worry. 

Tears fill his eyes as he reaches up to cup Keith's face, turning him in the light to look at the bruises. 

“Oh what did you do.” His face crumples and he pulls Keith into a hug, feeling like he's falling apart at the seams. 

Keith wraps his arms around him, tucking Lance against his chest and holding him tight. 

“I'm sorry,” he mumbles, tucking his face into the side of Keith's neck. 

“For what?”

“That you're hurt.” He pulls back, pressing a gentle hand over Keith's cheek again. “Because I don't know how to help.” 

Keith's eyes turn sly, a small smile pulling at his mouth. “You could always kiss me again.” 

A small laugh slips out of Lance. “Pretty sure a healing pod would work better.” His thumb is stroking along Keith's cheek.

“Think I'd rather have a kiss.” Keith's nose brushes along Lance's and he can feel Lance smile. 

His other hand drops to Keith's hip and he tilts his head just so, pressing a kiss to Keith's mouth. He can taste the faint metallic tang of blood from Keith's split lip and strokes it gently with his tongue. 

Keith groans, body arching into Lance's and Lance holds him tighter, barely resisting the urge to lightly nip at Keith's lip with his teeth. 

He pulls back instead, gasping softly, his eyes still closed as he leans against Keith. “Seriously, we should get you into a healing pod,” he whispers. His voice drags with gravel and he feels more than hears Keith's breath hitch at the sound. 

He takes Keith's hand before he can pull him into another kiss and drags him all the way to the medbay. 


End file.
